Cabbing Into the Future

Toyota Prius taxis are commonplace in Vancouver. In fact, they're going to become more so, as new cab-license requirements specify hybrid power.

By
Dennis Simanaitis, Engineering editor

Dec 10, 2007

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A funny language we have: A taxicab is a hack, shortened from hackney, a carriage for hire, originally Hakeney, an English village. And, as a verb, to hack means to chop or cut crudely, now extending its meaning into computer jargon.

In a recent visit to Vancouver, British Columbia, I encountered both meanings.

Cabbing Into the Future

Toyota Prius taxis are commonplace in Vancouver. In fact, they're going to become more so, as new cab-license requirements specify hybrid power.

Environmental benefits are clear for such AT-PZEVs (Advanced Technology Partial Zero Emissions Vehicles). According to Global Equity Research performed by UBS Limited and automotive specialists at Ricardo, painting an average room in an average house with a gallon of gloss paint emits more volatile organic compounds than driving a Prius 150,000 miles.

I chatted up my hotel-to-airport driver, who enthusiastically described other benefits. Whereas his previous cab, a typical American sedan, used $40–$45 of fuel each day, typical Prius consumption was more like $11–$12/day. Plus, he said, he liked the quietness of stopped and low-speed pure-electric city motoring.

He drove with the car's display screen in its Energy Monitor mode showing engine/motor/battery interactions. And I could see just how adept he had become in exploiting the Prius's electric-only mode. He also knew how to shape his braking to optimize regen.

All the while, he offered a knowledgeable commentary of hybrid benefits.

By the way, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has a five-year plan to replace all of the city's 13,000 taxis with gasoline-electric hybrids. The only downside will be overly exercised battery packs from New York cabbies' honking.

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In Vancouver, they're as quiet as can be.

Hacking Into Traffic

As reported in The Vancouver Sun newspaper, the city's traffic was brought into a wild tangle as traffic lights and other control devices all went onto the wrong time of day.

Morning rush-hour found lights geared for the middle of the night. Causeway traffic backed up for miles in the afternoon when one-way preferences got mangled. Left-turn arrows went helter-skelter; and green lights failed to last for optimal durations. Buses couldn't employ their usual practice of prolonging the greens.

Officials feared that someone had hacked into the central computer system at a strikebound city hall. (Some 5000 civic workers had been part of a work stoppage stretching back 71 days.)

Suspicion arose when a caller to a local all-traffic radio station warned that the mess would continue "until the strike ends."

Local union officials denied culpability. In fact, later in the day the union sent a specialist to city hall to fix the problem. The technician found that the traffic system's central clock had been set back seven hours. Normally, such a thing would have been corrected through checks with the city's main computer clock, but this link was not working.

Even in a pure meltdown, it was noted, utter chaos would not have occurred, as individual lights are programmed to flash red in all directions under failsafe conditions. Interestingly, only one street in town was unaffected; this, because communications between it and the central computer were down.

Everyone hoped that the strike would be over soon — and that traffic lights would stay in sync with Vancouver's correct time of day.

A Sure Sign of Inflation

As noted by specialists at The Tire Rack, the quarter is the new penny. They're not talking monetary inflation, though, but rather tire wear.

In the old Penny Test, seeing the top of Abe Lincoln's head inverted in a tire groove implied a tread depth of 2/32 in. or less, and thus a tire that called for replacing.

By contrast, an analogous Quarter Test gives double this depth, 4/32 in. — and commensurately better braking and handling, especially at the higher speeds we drive even in inclement weather.

Testing at The Tire Rack quantified the benefits. A late-model pickup truck passing the Penny Test averaged 500 ft. to stop in the wet from 70 mph. By contrast, fitted with analogous tires meeting the Quarter Test, it stopped in 378 ft., a 24-percent-shorter distance. Overall wet grip was enhanced as well.

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